Paladin

Primary Abilities: Strength, Charisma

Paladins are united by their oaths to stand against the forces of annihilation and corruption. Whether sworn before a god's altar, in a sacred glade before nature spirits and fey beings, or in a moment of desperation and grief with the dead as the only witnesses, a Paladin's oath is a powerful bond. It is a source of power that turns a devout warrior into a blessed champion.

A Paladin swears to stand against corrupting influences and to hunt the forces of ruin wherever they lurk. Different Paladins focus on various aspects of these causes, but all are bound by the oaths that grant them power to do their sacred work.

Paladins train to learn the skills of combat, mastering a variety of weapons and armor. Even so, their martial skills are secondary to the magical power they wield — power to heal the sick and injured, to smite their foes, and to protect the helpless and those who fight at their side.

Almost by definition, the life of a Paladin is an adventuring life, for every Paladin lives on the front lines of the cosmic struggle against annihilation. Fighters are rare enough among the ranks of a world's armies, but even fewer people can claim the calling of a Paladin. When they do receive the call, these blessed folk turn from their former occupations and take up arms and magic. Sometimes their oaths lead them into the service of the crown as leaders of elite groups of knights, but even then, their loyalty is first to their sacred oaths, not to crown and country.

Adventuring Paladins take their work seriously. A delve into an ancient ruin or a dusty crypt can be a quest driven by a higher purpose than the acquisition of treasure. Malign forces lurk in dungeons, and even the smallest victory against them can tilt the cosmic balance away from oblivion.

Creating a Paladin¶

To create a Paladin, consult the following lists, which provide Hit Points, proficiencies, and

Armor training is the new name for armor proficiency. Any existing rule that involves armor proficiency now applies to armor training.

If you wear Light, Medium, or Heavy Armor and lack armor training with that type of armor, you have Disadvantage on any d20 Test you make that involves Strength or Dexterity, and you can't cast spells.

If you equip a Shield and lack armor training with it, you don't gain the Armor Class bonus of the Shield.

. If you're making a 1st-level character, also consult the Starting Equipment section, and if you're using the multiclassing rules, see the "Multiclassing and the Paladin" sidebar.

Then look at the Paladin table to see the Class Features you get at each level in this Class. The descriptions of those features appear in the Paladin Class Features section.

Hit Points¶

Hit Dice: 1d10 per Paladin level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points per Level after 1st: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier

Proficiencies¶

Saving Throws: Wisdom, Charisma
Skills (Choose 2): Athletics, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Persuasion, Religion
Weapons: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons
Tools: None

Armor Training¶

Light Armor, Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, Shields

Starting Equipment¶

As a 1st-level character, you start with the following equipment, or you can forgo it and spend 150 GP on equipment of your choice.

• Chain Mail
• Holy Symbol
• Javelin (6)
• Longsword
• Priest's Pack
• Shield
• 9 GP

Paladin Class Features¶

As a Paladin, you gain the following class features when you reach the specified levels in this class. These features are listed on the Paladin table.

1st Level: Lay On Hands¶

Your blessed touch can heal wounds. You have a pool of healing power that replenishes when you take a

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime -- at least 8 hours long -- available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

During the sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit ... [more]

. With that pool, you can restore a total number of Hit Points equal to five times your Paladin level.

As a Bonus Action, you can touch a creature (which could be yourself) and draw power from the pool of healing to restore a number of Hit Points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in the pool.

In addition, you can expend 5 Hit Points from the pool of healing to remove the Poisoned condition from the creature, rather than using those points to restore Hit Points.

1st Level: Spellcasting¶

You have learned to cast spells through prayer, meditation, and devotion. See the Player's Handbook for the rules on spellcasting. The information below details how you use those rules as a Paladin.

Spell Slots. The Paladin table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell's level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime -- at least 8 hours long -- available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

During the sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit ... [more]

.

Prepared Spells of 1st+ Level. You prepare the list of spells of 1st level and higher that are available for you to cast with this feature. To start, choose two 1st-level spells from the Paladin spell list. Rather than choosing, you may start with Heroism and Searing Smite.

The number of spells on your list increases as you gain Paladin levels, as shown in the Prepared Spells column of the Paladin table. Whenever that number increases, choose additional spells from the Paladin spell list until the number of spells on your list matches the number on the table. The chosen spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots. For example, if you're a 5th-level Paladin, your list of prepared spells can include six Paladin spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination.

If another Paladin feature gives spells that you always have prepared, those spells don't count against the number of spells on the list you prepare with this Spellcasting feature, but those spells otherwise follow the rules in this feature.

Changing Your Prepared Spells. Whenever you finish a

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime -- at least 8 hours long -- available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

During the sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit ... [more]

, you can replace one spell on your list with another Paladin spell for which you have spell slots.

Spellcasting Ability. Charisma is your Spellcasting Ability for your Paladin spells.

Spellcasting Focus. You can use a Holy Symbol as a Spellcasting Focus for the spells you prepare for this class.

1st Level: Weapon Mastery¶

Your training with weapons allows you to use the Mastery property of two kinds of weapons of your choice with which you have proficiency, such as Longswords and Javelins.

Whenever you finish a

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime -- at least 8 hours long -- available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

During the sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit ... [more]

, you can change the kinds of weapons you chose. For example, you could switch to using the Mastery properties of Halberds and Flails.

2nd Level: Paladin's Smite¶

You have mastered smiting your targets with divine energy. You always have certain spells ready; when you reach a Paladin level specified in the Smite Spells table, you thereafter always have the listed spells prepared.

In addition, you can cast one of your prepared spells from this feature without expending a spell slot, and you must finish a

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime -- at least 8 hours long -- available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

During the sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit ... [more]

before you use this benefit again.

Smite Spells¶

2nd Level: Fighting Style¶

You have honed your martial prowess. You gain one of the following Fighting Style feats of your choice: Defense, Dueling, Great Weapon Fighting, or Protection.

3rd Level: Channel Divinity¶

You can channel divine energy directly from the Outer Planes, using that energy to fuel magical effects. You start with one such effect: Divine Sense, which is described below. Other Paladin features give additional Channel Divinity effect options. Each time you use this Channel Divinity, you choose which effect to create from among those you have from this class.

You can use Channel Divinity twice. You regain one expended use when you finish a

A Short Rest is a 1-hour period of downtime, during which a creature does nothing more strenuous than eating, drinking, reading, dozing, and standing watch.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Short Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Spend Hit Dice. You can spend one or more of your Hit Dice to regain Hit Points. For each Hit Die you spend in this way, roll the die and add your Constitution modifier to it. You regain Hit P ... [more]

, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime -- at least 8 hours long -- available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

During the sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit ... [more]

. You gain additional uses when you reach certain Paladin levels, as shown in the Channel Divinity column of the Paladin table.

If a Channel Divinity effect requires a saving throw, the DC equals the Spell Save DC from this class's Spellcasting feature.

Divine Sense. As a Bonus Action, you can open your awareness to detect Celestials, Fiends, and Undead. For the next 10 minutes or until you have the

While Incapacitated, you experience the following effects:

Inactive. You can't take any action, Bonus Action, or Reaction.
No Concentration. Your Concentration is broken.
Speechless. You can't speak.
Surprised. If you're Incapacitated when you roll Initiative, you have Disadvantage on the roll.

condition, you know the location of any creature of those types within 60 feet of yourself, and you know its creature type. Within the same radius, you also detect the presence of any place or object that has been consecrated or desecrated, as with the Hallow spell.

3rd Level: Paladin Subclass¶

You gain a Paladin subclass of your choice, listed at the end of this class description.

A subclass is a specialization that grants you special abilities at certain Paladin levels. For the rest of your career, you gain each of your subclass's features that are of your Paladin level and lower.

4th Level: Ability Score Improvement¶

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

5th Level: Extra Attack¶

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the

When you take the Attack action, you can make one attack with a weapon or an Unarmed Strike.

Equipping and Unequipping Weapons

You can either equip or unequip one weapon when you make an attack as part of this action. You do so either before or after the attack. If you equip a weapon before an attack, you don't need to use it for that attack.

Equipping a weapon includes drawing it from a sheath, picking it up, or retrieving it from a container. Unequipping a weapon includes sheathing, st ... [more]

action on your turn.

5th Level: Faithful Steed¶

You can easily call on the aid of an otherworldly steed. You always have the Find Steed spell prepared.

You can also cast the spell once without expending a spell slot, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a

A Long Rest is a period of extended downtime -- at least 8 hours long -- available to any creature. During a Long Rest, you sleep for at least 6 hours and perform no more than 2 hours of light activity, such as reading, talking, eating, or standing watch.

During the sleep, you have the Unconscious condition.

Benefits of the Rest

To start a Long Rest, you must have at least 1 Hit Point. When you finish the rest, you gain the following benefits:

Regain All HP. You regain all lost Hit ... [more]

.

6th Level: Aura of Protection¶

You radiate a protective, invisible aura that extends 10 feet from you in every direction, but it doesn't extend through Total Cover. The aura is inactive while you have the

While Incapacitated, you experience the following effects:

Inactive. You can't take any action, Bonus Action, or Reaction.
No Concentration. Your Concentration is broken.
Speechless. You can't speak.
Surprised. If you're Incapacitated when you roll Initiative, you have Disadvantage on the roll.

condition.

You and your allies in the aura gain a bonus to saving throws equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum bonus of +1).

If another Paladin is present, a creature can benefit from only one Aura of Protection at a time; the creature chooses which one when entering the auras.

7th Level: Subclass Feature¶

You gain a feature from your Paladin subclass.

8th Level: Ability Score Improvement¶

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

9th Level: Abjure Foes¶

As a

When you take the Magic action, you magic something by casting a spell that has a casting time of an action or by using a feature or Magic Item that requires a Magic action to be activated.

If you cast a spell that has a casting time of 1 minute or longer, you must take the Magic action on each turn of that casting, and you must maintain Concentration while you do so. If your Concentration is broken, the spell fails, but you don't expend a spell slot.

action, you can expend one use of your Channel Divinity to overwhelm foes with divine awe. As you present your Holy Symbol or weapon, you can target a number of creatures equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of one creature) that you can see within 60 feet of yourself.

Each target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or have the

While Dazed, you experience the following effect:

Limited Activity. You can Move or take one action on your turn, not both. You also can't take a Bonus Action or a Reaction.

and Frightened conditions for 1 minute or until it takes any damage.

10th Level: Aura of Courage¶

You and your allies are immune to the Frightened condition while in your Aura of Protection. If a Frightened ally enters the aura, that condition has no effect on that ally while there.

11th Level: Radiant Strikes¶

You are so suffused with divine might that your weapon strikes carry supernatural power with them. When you hit a target with an attack roll using a melee weapon or an

An Unarmed Strike is a melee attack that involves you using your body to damage, grapple, or shove a target within 5 feet of you.

Whenever you use your Unarmed Strike, choose one of the following options for its effect:

Damage. You make an attack roll against the target. Your bonus to hit equals your Strength modifier + your Proficiency Bonus. On a hit, the target takes Bludgeoning damage equal to 1 + your Strength modifier.
Grapple. The target must succeed on a Strength or Dexterit ... [more]

, the target takes an extra 1d8 Radiant damage.

12th Level: Ability Score Improvement¶

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

14th Level: Restoring Touch¶

When you use Lay on Hands on a creature, you can also remove one or more of the following conditions from the creature: Blinded, Charmed,

While Dazed, you experience the following effect:

Limited Activity. You can Move or take one action on your turn, not both. You also can't take a Bonus Action or a Reaction.

, Deafened, Frightened, Paralyzed, or Stunned. You must expend 5 Hit Points from the healing pool of Lay on Hands for each of these conditions you remove; those points don't also restore Hit Points to the creature.

15th Level: Subclass Feature¶

You gain a feature from your Paladin subclass.

16th Level: Ability Score Improvement¶

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

18th Level: Aura Expansion¶

Your Aura of Protection now extends 30 feet from you rather than 10 feet.

19th Level: Ability Score Improvement¶

You gain the Ability Score Improvement feat or another feat of your choice for which you qualify.

20th Level: Subclass Feature¶

You gain a feature from your Paladin subclass.

Paladin Subclasses¶

A Paladin subclass is a specialization that grants you special abilities at certain Paladin levels, as specified in the subclass. Each of this class's subclasses represents a body of oaths that a Paladin begins taking upon joining the class. The final oath, taken at 3rd level, is the culmination of a Paladin's training. Some characters with this class don't consider themselves true Paladins until they have reached 3rd level and made this oath. For others, the actual swearing of the oath is a formality, an official stamp on what was already true in the Paladin's heart.

• Oath of Devotion
• Oath of Glory
• Oath of the Ancients
• Oath of Vengeance

Source: Player's Handbook Playtest 6